The story here is about a ten-year old girl who has heroin addicted parents (Jeff Bridges and Meg Tilly). Soon after her mother overdoses, she and her father return to his place of origins, which is far out in the country, on an old abandoned farmhouse. He soon overdoses as well, though the girl never acknowledges it. Well, she's a kid - she doesn't quite know what death is and so doesn't have a big reaction to it. She also has a very active imagination and is constantly talking to her collection of doll heads. There's also dialogue that goes on with the squirrel that lives in the walls.

As the movie progresses she still continues to talk to her father, who sits in a chair and slowly rots away. There's also a next door neighbor - a crazy, one-eyed woman - and her brain damaged brother, who she befriends. The brother thinks he has a submarine and is a shark hunter.

This is one of those flicks that have you laughing one moment and horrified the next. The closest thing I can compare it to is the movie THE REFLECTING SKIN. TIDE LAND is one of Terry Gilliam's more disturbing movies.